The boom in unconventional oil and gas extraction has brought a host of environmental challenges, not least in wastewater treatment. But it presents an opportunity for VC-backed water treatment firms, says Tom Whitehouse

The latest issue of our new quarterly carbon markets and finance publication is now available FREE, online.

The EU’s move to cap aviation emissions is under fire from all sides. Christopher Cundy asks if the system can survive the onslaught

Will Oulton, editor of Investment Opportunities for a Low-Carbon World, reflects on opportunities for investors in environmental businesses and the need for more ‘patient capital’

Josué Tanaka is leading a new phase of the EBRD’s sustainable energy lending – and its push into North Africa. He speaks to Christopher Cundy

Malik Naeem and Mark Neal summarise the findings of the first region-wide survey of sustainability in business education in the Asia-Pacific region

Californian pension giant CalPERS is flexing its muscles on ESG, under head of corporate governance Anne Simpson. She talks to Felicity Carus

The good news: solar PV is fast approaching the holy grail of grid parity. The bad news: getting there means yet more cost-cutting, restructuring and consolidation. Can investors make money on the way? Mark Nicholls reports

It’s long been the prescription of environmental economists that those who pollute should bear the costs of that pollution – that so-called environmental externalities should be borne not by society as a whole, but by those responsible for them.

Californian regulators have dismissed concerns about the start of the state’s carbon cap-and-trade programme next year – but plenty of uncertainties are worrying emitters. Gloria Gonzalez reports from San Francisco

How should large companies and their investors consider, and communicate, water risk? Environmental Finance and Irbaris brought the two sides together to find out. Mark Nicholls reports

Investing in and implementing industrial energy efficiency has not been a straightforward affair. Environmental Finance and DNV asked a roundtable of experts to discuss the barriers – and how to overcome them. Christopher Cundy reports

All eyes at carbon exchange BlueNext are on the tender for the EU-wide allowance auction platform – as a springboard into the futures market. CEO François-Xavier Saint-Macary talks to Mark Nicholls

Interest and activity are building in Africa’s carbon markets, but developers and buyers face frustrations in getting projects built and credited. Elza Holmstedt Pell reports

It’s been quite a road for Dirk Forrister, the new president of the International Emissions Trading Association – from the White House to Geneva, via London and Colorado. He talks to Katie Kouchakji about how the carbon market has changed and where he sees it heading

It is unlikely that the carbon markets, via a REDD mechanism, can deliver enough finance quickly enough to rapidly slow deforestation. Nick Oakes explains how blending additional revenue streams with carbon finance could be the answer

At Environmental Finance, we know only too well how much information our readers are bombarded with – whether about the latest environmental technologies or policy developments, the ups and downs of environmental commodity markets, or the increasingly frequent financing deals that are laying the foundations of a low-carbon economy.

The voluntary carbon market held up better than its bigger mandatory brother in 2011 but, say the top ranked firms in Environmental Finance’s market survey, innovation and differentiation will be key to success in what is still a tough environment. Mark Nicholls reports

A directory of leading providers of carbon offsets and voluntary market services

After 11 years at the helm of the UNEP Finance Initiative, Paul Clements-Hunt takes a look at the past – and future – of sustainable finance